


A Hobby for the Captain

by JollyCat



Series: Paper Games [1]
Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-14
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-04-20 20:07:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4800581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JollyCat/pseuds/JollyCat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sean Renard is considering a change of direction but first he apparently needs a hobby. And where does Nick fit into this?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hobby for the Captain

**Hobby (noun) 1. an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure.**

The restaurant is expensive, the food good and the company, well, Sean Renard is not sure what to make of the company. The three men he's eating with are all humanly-important: the sort of men he is expected to make time for to ensure budgets and cooperation. Tonight though there is something else on the cards and as the meal ends he suspects he's going to find out what.

Joe Chaplin is the most senior of them, never a front-line politician but always a man pulling the strings. He leans forward,

"Sean, you ever considered running for political office? Because we're looking for a candidate and we think that you might be just the man."

Sean makes non-committal noises but can't deny that the idea has a certain attraction for him, he's enough of his father's son for that. He finds himself eventually agreeing to think about it and shaking hands on promises to meet again soon. Davis, the youngest of the three men, presses a book into his hands. Sean is not entirely sure he's going to read _Ruling Passions: Political Offices and Democratic Ethics_ but he says thank you politely.

As he and Chaplin leave the restaurant the older man catches his arm,

"Couple of things if we're going to go for this. First thing is, you have any skeletons in your closet now is the time to come clean or make absolutely sure they're not getting out."

Sean has enough skeletons to fill a reasonably sized room, never mind a closet, so he asks what the second thing is.

"I know how dedicated you are to your job and that's great. If you're going to run for office though you have to show the voters that you're also like them. You haven't got a family, kids so you'll need something for those 'regular guy' photos, something to talk about in interviews and you need to think about that now. Get a hobby."

Sean is momentarily thrown, both by what Chaplin is saying and the brief pain at the thought of Diana, so he repeats in a slightly confused tone, "A hobby?"

"Yes, you know, play the saxophone in a band, coach junior soccer, join a basketball team, whatever. A hobby."

                                 ==========================

Sean is in his office, a small part of his mind on the odd conversation of the night before, the rest on the work of the day. There are suddenly a lot of drugs in Portland, and not just the usual suspects either. There have been several drug fuelled assaults and O'Dowd and Andersson are working a case where a son gave his mother a cocktail of tranquillisers, kept her out of it for a week and systematically stripped her house and bank account of everything of value. Nick and Hank are working a case where the victim and the equally dead driver of the car that hit him had both taken enough prescription-only drugs to render a bus-load of people incapable of sensible behaviour.

Nick is looking much better - still slightly too thin, his face a little haggard but more himself. He seems quieter but Sean will take that over out-of-control Nick any day. It's good to see him sitting there, talking normally about the case with Hank. Monroe, Rosalee and even Wu have put a lot of time and effort into Nick Burkhardt lately but it's probably thanks to Hank that Nick is still a detective. Hank looks up, notices him watching and holds up the file slightly, obviously wanting to discuss the case. Sean beckons them across.

Martin Lorenzo, the driver of the car and Kurt Jenner, his victim, didn't know each other but the identical drugs in their systems imply that they have either been to the same place or hung with the same crowd. Nick and Hank have talked to friends, acquaintances, tracked their movements on the night of their deaths. Eventually they have come up with a link - both men had visited the same bar at different points during the same evening. The bar is one that has cropped up before in a Wesen case so Hank is going to call in to officially interview someone there, Nick is going to check the place out a little more unofficially after that.

                                                          ***

The Pint to Pint is a small bar, not high end, not a dive. Hank calls in alone, Nick in reserve for later, and speaks to the bartender. The bartender claims no knowledge of Martin Lorenzo but does recognise Jenner's face as a regular after work customer. There is of course absolutely no possibility that any drugs whatsoever are changing hands. Hank thanks him for his help and leaves. As he walks away from the bar he passes Nick heading in, tells him what the bartender said,

"And don't forget, just one hour. I have a very hot date tonight and I am not missing this one for anything."

                                                          ***

Sean is home unusually early. He's eaten, he doesn't have any pressing business, police or otherwise. His mind turns again to the conversation with Joe Chaplin. Public office? Realistically the multiple secrets of his complicated life are probably more of a problem than his lack of recreational activities, nevertheless it's that he's focusing on. He did play the piano as a child - reluctantly and from what he remembers not very well - but something rather more sociable is probably what's needed. Not the saxophone though, that doesn't appeal.

Sean reaches for his laptop and after a moment's thought searches 'what instrument should I play?' The quiz that pops up is clearly aimed at children - he can manage his favourite colour but has no idea whether he prefers 'Finding Nemo' or ''The Incredibles', never having watched, or indeed heard of, either. He tries again, this time adding 'adult' to his search. The top result suggests he thinks about what instrument he likes the sound of. That seems sensible and he does occasionally attend concerts, has even been to the opera. Sean clicks on the video of an orchestra and watches for a few minutes. He mentally dresses himself in a tuxedo and then, with a much greater imaginative effort, puts a French horn in his hands. It's at this point the phone rings. It's Hank.

"I'm at the the bar, the Pint to Pint, Nick's still inside and I think something may have gone wrong - I can see him but he seems to be asleep on the bar."

"Could he just be blending in with the locals?"

"We agreed he'd be an hour at most and it's already been an hour and a half. I'm reluctant just to go in myself in case I do blow his cover but it doesn't feel right to me."

"I'll be there in five minutes."

  ***

Sean walks into the bar and makes a show of looking round and spotting Nick. The clientele is both human and Wesen and there's an odd smell, vaguely familiar but which he can't identify. He walks across, grabs Nick's shoulder and pulls him up. Nick looks at him with a disturbingly large grin, his pupils dilated wide, and then falls forward onto Sean. The woman on the next bar stool sniggers,

"Honey, if that's your boyfriend you want to be looking elsewhere - he is _fried_."

There is laughter from those around but for some reason Sean's senses are suddenly on alert. He drags Nick, who seems barely able to stand, to his feet and pretty much carries him towards the door. He's using more strength than is entirely human but he doesn't like something here and and he wants to get Nick away. Out of the corner of his eye he sees a face he recognises but he doesn't stop.

Nick really is out of it. He's not drunk so he's probably either breathed or swallowed something: Sean thinks about the odd smell in the bar, tries again to identify it. Nick doesn't seem to be in any danger and Hank is keen to get away - can he really be considering wife number four? With a sigh Sean drives towards his own house, Nick more or less in the passenger seat. It's more or less because Nick is showing a distinct tendency to lean and actually ends up with his head on Sean's knee for half the journey. This does nothing for Sean's driving on so many levels that it's quite a relief to reach the house.

Once inside he installs Nick on the couch - he wants to keep an eye on him and watching him sleep in the guest bed would be just too strange - and sits in the chair. This has limited success as Nick twice comes across and tries to climb in his lap - whatever he was given it's certainly made him affectionate. Eventually Sean moves the chair across next to the couch and Nick finally settles.

Sean's laptop is still open on the side table and he wakes it up, looks again at the screen. He doesn't really think he's got the time to learn the French horn - or in fact any instrument. He shuts the laptop and watches Nick sleep.

 

                                              ===============

 

Sean leans away from his office desk to stretch his back, he definitely feels like a man who spent a night in a chair. Nick is showing no ill effects and is annoyingly bright eyed and full of breakfast whilst Hank looks like a man who had a very good date. Sometimes he misses plotting against them.

"So, what happened in that bar last night?"

"I had a bottle of beer, talked to the barman and a couple of the regulars. There was at least one klaustreich and a couple of fuchsbaus but I didn't have chance to speak to them and they didn't seem to pay me much attention. I had another beer and I just remember feeling pretty good."

Hank asks, "Did you leave your drink unattended at any point?"

"No - if someone slipped something in my drink it must have been the guy behind the bar."

"Or you just get totally hammered on two beers these days."

Sean taps his pen on his desk to bring their focus back,

"I recognised someone in the bar. His name is Lewis Balmer and the last time I saw him was about fifteen years ago when he was working for the Royal families. He was a man who would do their dirty work and enjoy it. If something illegal is happening in that bar I'd bet he's part of it. He will have recognised me as well."

Nick shrugs, "Will he though? I mean, after fifteen years and seeing you for just a couple of minutes?"

"Oh yes. Lewis Balmer is a Zauberbiest, the only other one I've ever met. We would recognise each other after twice as long and in just a few seconds." Sean sighs, "Go and run his name, check for associates, any links with drug crime. I'll get in touch with my contacts, do some research of my own. And if he's up for it, see if Monroe will stick his nose round the door of that bar and try and identify that odd smell." Hank and Nick leave. Sean pulls a cellphone from his desk, taps in a number,

"Bonjour. Oui, c'est moi. Oui, ça fait longtemps."

                                                            ***

Sean has spent the day indoors at his desk and he feels the need for some fresh air and exercise. Perhaps this is the moment he should be thinking about taking up a sport - what was it? Coach soccer or take up basketball? He goes to the gym occasionally - enough to justify the physique that is mainly the result of his Wesen genes - and has enjoyed climbing and skiing. Never team sports though, the problem being that as a Zauberbiest he always has to hide his true strength and speed from the humans around him. The only person he can think of who he both trusts and can compete with on a pretty equal footing is...ah, standing at his office door.

"Nick, how is it going?"

"With Balmer's name and the ones you gave us we've made progress. Balmer has links with a drug dealer Vice have had their eyes on for a while and we're waiting for some more information from out of state. We have plenty of leads to work on tomorrow." Nick pushes the door shut and comes fully into the office and looks at his notebook.

"Monroe and Rosalee went to Pint to Pint. They think the smell is something called Brugmansia or Angel's Flight. It's a plant that is used medicinally by Wesen in small doses. It also affects humans and in high doses it's a hallucinogen and addictive."

"Hmm, sounds nasty." He wonders why the smell was familiar, perhaps his mother used it.

Nick is still standing half way between door and desk.

"Was there something else?"

Nick grins, "I wondered if you fancied a trip out to the woods?"

 

As Nick began to emerge from his huge grief at what happened to Juliette he became more aware of the smaller grief at the loss of the trailer. For his part Sean doesn't think he can ever forgive the destruction of the books: all that knowledge, hundreds, even thousands of years old, most of it probably written down nowhere else and now lost for ever. Nick had appreciated the books but the thing he really mourned was the weapons. Restoring, repairing and replacing what he can is a new focus. They've all encouraged it as a way for Nick to look forward: Monroe has been cataloging what is left, Wu has been searching the farthest recesses of the Internet for replacements (and it's scary what he's actually found) and Hank has proved surprisingly handy with a welding torch. Sean though is the only one with the strength and speed to really use the weapons with Nick.

 

They go out into the forest, taking cars as far as they can and then running even further in. Sometimes they train with the weapons separately, sometimes side by side, other times mirroring. Sean is bigger, with a longer reach but Nick is often quicker and more agile. The speed of their movements can be inhumanly fast but at other times they practice each movement in a slow motion ballet. If anyone was there to see it, the sight of the Grimm and the Zauberbiest fighting the wind is a breathtaking one. The sight of them fighting together is even more so.

Practising the moves without actually inflicting harm is harder than fighting with an intent to kill and maim. The control it requires and the understanding of each other needed is immense and like nothing either has tried before. It is, of course, dangerous but both men feed off the adrenaline and so far they've had plenty of bruises but nothing worse than that. Finally they fight without the weapons, a free-for-all that has become something of a ritual end for these sessions.

They are evenly matched. Tonight Sean nearly has Nick wrestled to the ground when Nick gives a frantic eel-like twist and turns the tables, pinning Sean to the ground. He retracts to his human face and laughs,

"Enough, you win!"

Nick is full length on top of him now, it's too dark to really see his face but he's breathing hard and Sean can feel his breath.

"I don't think I've ever said thank you for last night, keeping an eye on me."

"It was no problem."

"Well, thank you anyway."

Sean feels the quick contact of Nick's lips against his own and then Nick is up and gone, running back towards the cars.

                                                   =================

There are three long days of intensive police work, the Vice and Homicide departments working together to track down links, addresses, carry out surveillance on suspects and premises. They know this is big, has to be taken carefully but also that they need to move fast. Finally the moment comes and night raids across Portland sweep in the players, major and minor, in the drugs ring. Lewis Balmer is arrested at his house, a normal looking bungalow in a suburban neighbourhood that conceals a basement full of chemicals capable of bending the minds of both humans and Wesen.

The following day the dust is settling. Nick and Hank are going to Balmer's house, the intention being to sneak Monroe in to try to identify some of the Wesen only drugs. Sean is heading for the press conference, elegant suit and cashmere coat making him look more politician than policeman already. Half way down the stairs the memory that has eluded him for days suddenly falls into place: he remembers why he knows the smell of Angel's Flight. His mother didn't just use it, she used it on him the night they escaped from the Royal family.

They had had to get away on foot in winter, a difficult journey in terrible weather and one he probably wouldn't have survived without the drug his mother had given him. He hadn't known the name then but the smell and taste, now he's made the link it is unmistakeable. And what Angel's Flight does for Hexen- and Zauberbiests is give them massively enhanced strength and stamina.

Sean turns and runs back up the stairs, sees Wu.

"Ring down to the cells, get them to check on Balmer straight away."

Balmer is gone, he's basically torn his way though the wall of the cell and through all the security doors. Sean tells Wu to keep trying to get hold of Hank and Nick and runs for his car - there are things, zaubertranke ingredients, in Balmer's house that are rare, virtually irreplaceable. That's where he'll head.

The road in front of Balmer's house is sealed off, the neighbours told to leave due to the possible dangers from the chemicals in the basement. Hank's car is parked out front but there are no other vehicles. Sean takes out his gun, cautiously approaches. He's about ten feet from the neighbours' house when Balmer hits him. Even he is amazed by the sheer speed and strength and the gun flies from his hand. They both woge, Balmer is full Zauberbiest, the jaw unhinging, the skin desiccating.

"It's been a long time, Sean. I had high hopes of building a good business here, maybe even recruiting you. We could have been good together."

"Not going to happen, Lew."

"Did you have a fun time with your little Grimm the other night? What I gave him should have removed all his inhibitions. I was hoping he'd dance naked on the table or start a really good bar brawl. It was rather disappointing really."

The two Zauberbiests circle briefly and then begin to fight in earnest. Sean realises straight away this not going to be easy, Balmer is so fast and the blows have more than even a Zauberbiest's natural strength behind them. Sean gets in a decent punch and Balmer flies back, hitting the wall of the house but he's back in an instant. The fight moves across the yard, out into the road, huge blows traded back and forth, lightning speed.

Sean can see Monroe running towards them and he tries to move round slightly to conceal his approach. Suddenly though the blutbad goes down, Sean can't see why - can Balmer have an accomplice, has he been shot? That tiny moment of distraction is enough and Balmer gets under his guard and there's a blade in his hands. The knife stabs up towards his chest and he feels the force of the blow. He thinks - ridiculously - that this is another very nice coat he's ruined and then that he really didn't want Nick to have to grieve for someone else so soon. There is a blur of motion in his peripheral vision and he staggers slightly as the weight of something - someone - crashes into them.

Nick pulls Balmer away enough for Sean to stand up. He can feel a slight pain but it doesn't feel like he's been stabbed - for now he just accepts the miracle. Balmer is facing up to Nick, eyeing up this new opponent. Sean moves to the other side of him and they advance.

They have fought side by side before but all those hours in the forest have changed things. They complement each other, supplement each other. When one leaves the smallest gap in their defence the other is there to cover, when Balmer parries one attack the other is there to follow it with another. Balmer may be a chemically enhanced Zauberbiest but he's no match for these two.

 

There are lights and sirens, Balmer, groggy and bruised, is handcuffed and secured. Nick grabs Sean,

"I thought he'd stabbed you, I thought I'd lost you."

There is a slash through the material of his coat but Sean is unharmed. He reaches into the inner breast pocket and pulls out _Ruling Passions: Political Offices and Democratic Ethics_ , forgotten since the dinner with Joe Chaplin. The book has been stabbed through the heart but Sean has no more than a scratch thanks to it. He pulls Nick close to him and the two men stand there, wrapped in each other's arms and laughing.

Sean realises he already has a hobby, a hobby that consumes all his leisure time, a hobby that gives him much pleasure as well as occasional pain. The hobby is called Nicholas Burkhard. He holds Nick tighter.

A little later Monroe is complaining loudly about the pothole he fell into. It's not that he has any objections to Sean and Nick wrapped in each other's arms or the way they are looking at each other but he does feel the need to fill the silence.

"You know the roads are just getting worse and worse, the springs on my car are shot and the council just does nothing about it. I could have broken my leg there..."

Sean interrupts,

"Monroe, you should do something about it. Have you ever considered running for public office?"

**Author's Note:**

> This was weirdly inspired by a) reading somewhere that Captain Renard having political ambitions is a plot strand for season 5 and b) the elections for the leader of the UK Labour Party. Given that a very unlikely candidate won that I'm thinking Monroe for Mayor of Portland...


End file.
